Aaron Raitiere (from the album Single Wide Dreamer available on Dinner Time Records)
Kentucky-born songwriter Aaron Raitiere had a career penning tunes prior to Single Wide Dreamer, his recent release. The process for the long-held dream for Aaron Raitiere began when he handed over twelve potential cuts to Miranda Lambert and Anderson East, giving them creative control for curating the track list, suggesting arrangements, and guest players. Single Wide Dreamer, produced by Miranda Lambert and Anderson East, welcomes collaborators such as Bob Weir, Natalie Hemby, Robert Randolph and Waylon Payne to name a few. Raitiere takes the recording in stride, sharing that ‘I think the record kind of made itself, and that was the vibe I was going with. It was just a bunch of friends getting together trying to help me create something, because they thought I needed a record’.
 
The observations of Aaron Raitiere find their way into a storyline, setting the tone for a lost-love letter, “Hello Darlin’’, promises to spell out the message with ‘cussin’ you in cursive’. Single Wide Dreamer details a night at the local watering hole with friends on board in “Everybody Else”, confirming ‘I won’t be lonely when I go to hell, you can find me with everybody else’ as Aaron Ratiere bounces into “You’re Crazy” and deals out harsh truths, pouring a half-full glass with an opening line of ‘I got your name tattooed on my hip bone’, covering up the mistake with the state of Kentucky’ admitting in the song title “At Least We Didn’t Have Any Kids”. Aaron Raitiere introduces an independent thinker in the title track as Single Wide Dreamer provides a DIY guide for a happy life in “For the Birds” and exits on the meaningful message of “Time Will Fly”.
 
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Abbie Gardner (from the album DobroSinger available as a self-release) (by Bryant Liggett)
Abbie Gardner (Red Molly) takes a big leap and stands on her own on DobroSinger. She proves she has all the chops of a Folkie, and does so in the untraditional way by using a dobro over a guitar. It’s rare that a dobro is the sole instrument on a Folk effort however Abbie Gardner proves she can be a standout vocalist and instrumentalist, doing so with the dobro, where the instrument handles rhythm and melody, beefing up the singer/songwriter approach. There is also, of course, a little twang.
DobroSinger opens with a gutsy Blues number in “Down the Mountain” before Abbie Gardner drops love songs with “Only All the Time” and “See You Again.” She drops a down home, animated, sit around the table, cut in “Born in the City”, tosses out a death ballad with “Cypress Tree”, and offers a two-stepper for “Honky Tonk Song”. The dobro also proves to be fitting accompaniment on ballads like “Too Many Kisses” and “You Belong to Me”, providing solid support to Abbie Gardner’s even more confident vocals.  It’s a great and perhaps underused instrument in the singer-songwriter realm, as the slide of the dobro always adds a bit of Country shuffle and bounce, while also giving some gutsy support. (by Bryant Liggett)
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The Builders and The Butchers (from the album Hell & High Water available on Badman Recording Co.)
The Builders and The Butchers flow smoothly into their recent release, Hell & High Water, floating in on opening cut “The River”, crying out for home over acoustic guitar chords before erupting in a demand on sharp-angled rhythms. The soft/hard arrangement is not a new song structure, though in the hands of The Builders and The Butchers the technique becomes less a gimmick, more a natural extension of the fury and force found in the band’s playing. Formed in Portland, Oregon in 2005, The Builders and The Butchers began life as buskers, playing house concerts and on the floor of venues, slowly adding a microphone, an amp, making their way up to the stage to one of the most dynamic live acts in the Pacific Northwest. The band does make every effort during performances to take themselves from the stage back to the floor. In a previous time, circa 2019,
The Builders and The Butchers came together for shows, writing, and tours whenever schedules allowed. The band members, all originally from Alaska. Making a living in Colorado brewing gin and whiskey for a living, and captaining a Malta-based ship based in Malta for some of the band members while the remaining members lived in Washington state and Portland, Oregon.  Then the calendar turned its pages to 202. a pandemic, wild fires and massive rioting Portland, Hell & High Water was a challenging, yet cathartic record to make. The Builders and The Butchers wrote Hell & High Water together as a band in a boat house in a marina.
 
The recent release, Hell & High Water is a musical travelogue when jangling guitars sound a start for “West Virginia”, the storyline giving an edge to the simple rhythms of the song, electric guitars adding bite. The pounding of the players opens “Montana” like the lightning strikes hitting ground in the tale as soft falls trod home in the tender melodies of “Nebraska”, the natural bombast of The Builders urging the song towards an exit. Hell & High Water close out on “Sonoran Highway Song”, the band quietly structuring the rise of the instrumentation towards for powerful exit from the album. Places on a map share topics on Hell & High Water as The Builders and The Butchers sing a song for the Northwest in “Stop the Rain”, walk dark streets for “Strangers Blood”, offer afterlife suggestions on “Name in the Sky”, and provide a Northwest sea shanty backing for the gripping storyline of “Hand in the Grave”.
 
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The Americans (from the album Stand True on Loose Music) (by Bryant Liggett)
Los Angeles based band The Americans are taking the musical ingredients of Roots and Americana and giving them a hard yet encouraging kick in the rear and (hopefully) high gear.  Their sophomore effort, Stand True, is power-Roots Rock, where earthy and stripped-down melodies pack a little punch, crunch, and feedback, and teases of the Jam band world get reeled back in as they keep things to a succinct package.
Acoustic picking introduces the opener “Stand True” with the cut dropping into a harder jangle while also throwing in hints of a yodel. That’s the closest The Americans ever get to any world of twang. Crying in your beer music isn’t only for a Country ballad when “Born With a Broken Heart” becomes a heavy weeper with riffs and Rock groove. The Americans keep it heavy with a goodbye ballad in “Farewell” while they rehash Shakespeare’s classic love-story by adding some observation in “Romeo”. “Sore Bones” is glorious gust of power-chords, crusty vocals, and Punk Rock, and The Americans keep the Hard Rock vibe going with the cow-punk touch of Southern rock in “Orion”.
This is a solid stew of Roots Rock. Stand True is a psychedelic, reverb-heavy jam with straight to the heart songwriting. Like My Morning Jacket and The Blasters dropped an album that was written by a The Boss of New Jersey. (by Bryant Liggett)
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Delbert McClinton (from Outdated Emotion on Hotshot Records/Thirty Tigers) (by Lee Zimmerman)

It seems rather redundant to claim that Delbert McClinton is returning to his roots. After all, McClinton himself personifies a sound that goes back to the very roots of Rock’n’Roll concurrent with the Bluesy bluster that informed that sound from the very beginning. Consequently, the title Outdated Emotion seems something of an oxymoron, because, in fact, McClinton has held true to his seminal style throughout his career.
 
The fact that he remains as vital and informed now as he did in the very beginning is certainly noteworthy. Given the transience that defines most popular music today, Delbert McClinton’s ability to stay as relevant and respected now as he was some 60 years ago when his harp provided the hook on Bruce Channel’s “Hey Baby” and propelled it to the top of the charts and, in turn, turned John Lennon into one of devoted disciples.
 
Flash forward to the present and the new album, a fine summation of Delbert McClinton’s cumulative career, thanks in large part to a selection of songs that represent the formative foundation on which he built his base. Many are seminal standards — “Stagger Lee”, “Long Tall Sally“, “Jambalaya”, “I Ain’t Got You”, and “Move It On Over” chief among them — while others find McClinton sharing the songwriting credits and ensuring a lingering imprint.

Not surprisingly then, none of these covers noticeably veer from the original renditions. McClinton is a sturdy Bluesman to be sure, but he’s also got the savvy needed to adapt to most any music of a similarly vintage variety, whether it’s the hardcore honky-tonk shuffle of “The Sun Is Shining”, a bluesy ballad like “I Want a Little Girl”,  or the slow burning blues of “Connecticut Blues”. It all comes together cohesively, but there is enough verve and variety to allow McClinton to effectively spin into the deeper depths of his own singular style.

As a result, Outdated Emotion is, as its title implies, of an old school pedigree, even as it allows Delbert McClinton to reassert his presence and remind those who may have forgotten of the contributions that still impact modern music. Outdated? Hardly. It’s still essential to be sure. (By Lee Zimmerman)
 
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Leyla McCalla (from the album Breaking the Thermometer available on Anti- Records) (by Bryant Liggett)
Leyla McCalla latest album is a solid package of music, politics, and cultural awareness. On Breaking the Thermometer, the one-time Carolina Chocolate Drop, New-Orleans based, Haitian American musician fuses traditional tunes with audio soundbites of old-school broadcasts and 21st Century interviews along with her own original music to create a sound collage that drops like a score to a political documentary. Despite some of the audio soundbites being decades old, this plays out as fresh as next week and as current as right now. It’s great.
Leyla McCalla’s cello is aggressive, bold, and beautiful on the opener in “Nan Fon Bwa”, where she airs a conversation that explores Haitian identity; its punky-political and borderless rhythms. There’s plucked banjo and Creole-language sung lyrics in “Fort Dimanche” as she soundtracks Afrobeat rhythms in “Le Bal est Fini” and “Dodinin” while “You Don’t Know Me” and “Memory Song” are one of many ambient ballads.
Then there’s the animated throwbacks like “Jean and Michele” and “Still Looking”, the former a Creole spoken-word blast of old-school audio, the latter a 23-second audio blip, both serving as sound-bridges that weave the record together.
With Leyla’s instrumentation, both old-school and modern Roots, McCalla has made a smart record with Breaking the Thermometer that utilizes a wealth of audio and original melodies exploring identity, culture, and people. It’s world spanning rhythms fused with sound-bite samples and plucked Roots strings, all original and all awesome. (by Bryant Liggett)
 
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For more information and purchase options, please visit the Delbert McClinton website

Steve Forbert (from the album Moving Through America on Blue Rose Records (by Lee Zimmerman)

With a career that spans nearly 45 years, a trajectory that’s taken him from the legendary punk dives of New York City through to some of the most prestigious venues in the nation, and, for that matter, the world, Steve Forbert epitomizes what it means to be a modern-day troubadour. Despite the media’s former insistence that he was ‘the new Dylan’, one of several artists (John Prine included) who was tagged with that label at that time, Forbert was simply too good to be pigeonholed as any kind of full-on Folkie. Nevertheless, given his down-home demeanor, parched vocals, and rambling delivery, he continues to purvey the notion of an everyman of sorts, an artist that lacks pretense and simply makes music based on wherever his muse takes him.
 
Not surprisingly then, Moving Through America stays true to that tack. It unfolds as a series of rag-tag rambles, reminiscent in a very real way of the stories shared by Woody Guthrie, Will Rogers, and Mark Twain especially in terms of observations and insights. It’s witty and pithy, with tongue often planted firmly in cheek. The easy breezy delivery of “Buffalo Nickel” and “Fried Oysters” typify that approach, yet add the hint of melancholia that often seems to reside at the core of his sometimes-solitary sound. That said, the songs stray to subjects that might seem somewhat off-kilter, shared through a personal perspective that can be both ordinary and askew. There are the mundane details of a date that finds a man sharing a plateful of oysters with his lady friend. A drug dealer celebrates his release from incarceration. A dog is spooked by claps of thunder. Naturally then, there’s also a traveler whose road-tripping his way through America.

All throughout, Steve Forbert’s music is filled with fascination, from the upbeat ideal of “Living the Dream”, “Say Hello to Gainesville”, and “I Can’t Get Back” to the easy lope and quiet reflections of “Palo Alto”, the  solid stomp of “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies”, and the meandering musings of “Times Like These”. It’s all witty and whimsical, yet informed by a certain irony that often leaves the listener guessing as to the ultimate intent. Nevertheless, that’s part and parcel of Forbert’s inherent charms, the ability to create an intimate experience through songs that ignite the imagination while keeping the themes decidedly down to earth.
 
In that regard, Moving Through America never fails to find its steady pace. (By Lee Zimmerman)
 
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Drunken Prayer (from The Name of the Ghost Is Home on Fluff & Gravy Records) (by Lee Zimmerman)
 
With a name like Drunken Prayer, this cockeyed combo doesn’t exactly foster high anticipation in terms of what they might lead one to expect. Happily then, some six albums on, this Asheville-based band shows both its mettle and musicality, thanks to the ragged, devil-may-care attitude of the band’s leader and multi-instrumentalist, Morgan Geer, and his fellow travelers; percussionist Greg Williams, synth and pedal steel player Alex McMahon, piano player Aaron Price, fiddler J.J. Tourville, keyboardist Eric Slick on keys and backing vocalist Christa de Mayo.


 
Indeed, there’s a certain cockeyed sway and saunter inherent on The Name of the Ghost Is Home, the latest entry in the band’s ongoing trajectory. That’s evidenced in the off-kilter swagger found in songs such as “She’s a Heart” and “Oasis in the Yard” as well as the wistful melancholia of “Myna Birds” and “Sweetheart of the Picket Line”, the latter of which bears the telling description tag line ‘you don’t have the weapon or the will’.
 
Hmm, so much for their support for organized labor…

Still, one has to admire both the attitude and aptitude of this otherwise unlikely bunch of Americana anti-heroes. When they take a decidedly earnest attempt at playing to their listeners’ sympathies, ala the emotional outpour of “Landmines and Rabbit Ears” they manage to state their case expressively and emphatically. The same could be said of the schizophrenic ballad “Crazy Alone”, a poignant and personal reflection on the effect distance often has on depression.  While the latter was apparently conceived during the covid crisis, isolation isn’t unique to the pandemic alone. In that regard, the soothing “God of the Sea” also finds common cause.
 
Notably then, as the album progresses, Drunken Prayer tone down the edgier aspects of their approach, resulting in a genuinely conciliatory sound that proves a welcome respite from the rowdy and rambunctious approach that characterized the proceedings early on. “The Judas Table,” “Country Music Ball of Fame”, “Sunderland”, and “I Wouldn’t Change a Thing” may, in fact, find tongue planted firmly in cheek, but regardless, these sweet serenades share tender charms all their own. (By Lee Zimmerman)
 
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William Beckmann (from the album Faded Memories available on Highway 90 Records) (by Bryant Liggett) 
Texas singer/songwriter William Beckmann is covering all the Country music bases. On his latest, Faded Memories, the Texas native, sounding well beyond his youthful 26 years with a twangy croon, drops Indie Country and lonesome Folk, Country Rock crooners, and a Rootsy cover of The Boss. William Beckmann truly released something for everyone, from the discerning armchair critic living on the left of the dial to those chasing the mainstream Pop hits.
William Beckmann goes right for the heart and tears straight out of the gate with opener “Bourbon Whiskey”,  a sad, cry-in-your-beer singalong before he shows border-town upbringing family roots in “Danced All Night Long”. The melody comes complete with mariachi horns and verses in Spanish.
“Follow” and “New Woman” benefit from big production and are ready for airtime on CMT, “In the Dark” is stripped down singer-songwriter Folk, and William Beckmann has big guitar fills drenched in reverb pushing his cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” into a desert, Country-noir world.
Lyrics like ‘well, you said it’s over, our love is dead and gone’ from the album opener nail the heartbreak while ‘I’ll drive right through the uneasy rain if it means I’ll get to see your face again’ found in “30 Miles” addresses the longing of love. Heartache, sadness, and movement are part of this seven-song record and every-person lyrics with honky-tonk thick instrumentation, William Beckmann delivers an efficient package of all levels of Country music. (by Bryant Liggett)
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Michael Weston King (from The Struggle on Cherry Red Records) (by Lee Zimmerman)

Michael Weston King succinctly sums up his supposed state of mind with the title of his new album, Struggle. A series of songs detailing the challenges and turmoil so many folks are facing during these troubled and tumultuous times. The Struggle hosts a decidedly different perspective as expressed by King himself, given the sardonic stance shared by his duo My Darling Clementine, which, for the past ten years, has been his primary focus in partnership with his wife and musical collaborator, Lou Dalgleish.

Then again, this heady approach is nothing new. Early on, in his original outfit The Good Sons, Michael Weston King maintained a furrowed brow within the band’s anthemic overtures. Given that it’s been ten years since King’s last solo sojourn, one might wonder if domestic discord has altered his mindset and effectively change his tune. Happily, though, that’s not the case, and My Darling Clementine will resume recording sometime soon.

Still, the sense of despair and disappointment is palatable throughout, resulting in one mournful melody after another. “Weight of the World”, which opens and closes the new record, sets the tone, flush with a mellow melancholia that leaves little doubt as to the singer’s sorrowful state of mind. “Another Dying Day” and “The Final Reel” project that pessimism to its fullest extent. However, the song that sums things up most succinctly falls to “The Hardest Thing of All”, a diary that details one man’s depression and sources the sentiment from futility and frustration.

‘when the hardest thing of all
Is just getting out of bed
And the sun that’s streaming in
Only lights a darkness in your head
And you’ve got nowhere to go
So you roll over and you stay
Beneath a blanket of sorrow
Try again tomorrow
For now just hide away…’
 
It’s a bleak approximation of mental illness, and one has to wonder where in fact King found his muse. The loss of his friend, the late Jackie Leven (given credit here for cowriting the song “Theory of Truthmakers”), may have something to do with his fatalistic attitude, but there’s clearly more to this shift in tone than shared sadness or suffering. The aforementioned “Weight of the World” speaks to the political upheaval that’s shaken citizenry of this country in particular, as expressed by a disillusioned voter who’s lost faith in the politician whose individual efforts were simply for self-gain.

It doesn’t take a lot of pondering to realize who he refers to.

Ultimately, The Struggle isn’t what one would call easy listening, and yet it’s a telling tome as well. It epitomizes what often passes as everyday existence in an era where uncertainty and upheaval seem to be the norm. The Struggle doesn’t make us feel any better about that plight, but it does help to realize that none of us have to feel like we’re in it all alone.
(By Lee Zimmerman)
 
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